My 2014 stint as a member of the Amazon CamperForce has ended. I'm ready. All the campers have been sent packing and Amazon's last peak season in Coffeyville, Kansas has come to a close. I got sent home at "lunch"...10 p.m., so I'm off to a good start trying to get back to normal sleeping hours. I need to head out early Friday.
My pictures today are of a few of the many people I got to know this year. I'm missing some I wish I had, but these will certainly bring back the fun memories we all made together. I don't know how the full-time...

Santa? ! ! Well, maybe he's not coming to my 5th wheel, but I'm hoping he shows up in all the homes with kids. I bet the elves are shining that sleigh right now as you read this!
The weather has simply been unusually mild here. Warmer than normal averages and I sure hope I didn't just put a jinx on the status.
I was supposed to have tomorrow (Sunday) off and have two days in a row off work (for the first time in 8 weeks!), but it was announced Friday that Sunday is once again a mandatory work day. Monday will be a half day for me as I am...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL. I hope your day was a wonderful one spent with loved ones.
It's been too long since I sent an update but I am going to try and get one off today before I head to work. (Some have wondered if I'm still kickin') Normally I leave at 5:00 p.m., but since it's Thanksgiving, Amazon is having us come in at 8 p.m.
My excuse is I'm just too tired to sit and fiddle with the pictures and write this meager unimaginative message. I'm in my 5th week of 50-hour weeks and with split days off, I just never seem to catch up....

Right!
Will Rogers!
Many today (well, he died even before I was born!) don't know who he is...but I bet most have heard some of his famous quotes:
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”
“Common sense ain't common.”
and one of my favorites...
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.”
He was quite a man and a memorable character. Such talent.
http://www.willrogers.com/
I had to go to Best Buy, and the closest was in...

and 8 weeks completed at Amazon...plus 10 more weeks and 2 days to go!
Last weekend I attended my 2nd Dalton Defender's Day. It's a fun little reenactment of a bank robbery gone astray by a very notorious gang of the day.
The five members of the Dalton gang (only three were Dalton brothers) rode into Coffeyville on October 5, 1892, tied their horses in the alley then split up as they entered the center of town. They had every intention of robbing both the Condon and First National banks but the townsfolk of Coffeyville had different ideas....

Dalton Defenders Day was this weekend, but I will add those pics and tell their story on another day. If you get bored looking at my pictorial of Cherryvale, Kansas on this post I don't want you to sign out before you get to the shoot-out!
Last Tuesday we were sent home - with pay - after the announcement that Amazon's Coffeyville Fulfillment Center was closing its doors. Wednesday was my normal day off (haven't had overtime the past three weeks) and I decided to check out a little restaurant named Just Us which was in Cherryvale, about 18...

That's Amazon's motto. We do work hard, we often have fun, and today I am truly a part of their history. The Fulfillment Center (Amazon's nomenclature for all their enormous warehouses) in Coffeyville is closing.
An "All Hands" meeting took place as soon as our night shift began. The tables were gone and the break/lunch room was filled with chairs all facing three huge screens. Amazon's Operations Director for North America was the speaker. He had delivered the news to the day crew one hour earlier and the place was abuzz before he even...

I was very busy this past week. That's good.
My chief duty as CamperCoach (those prestigious vests with "COACH" on the back are 'on order') was to perform the safety audits on all the campers who were in their 2nd week on the job. The best part is that I got to meet every new camper on every night shift. The worst part was finding them. Most were pretty easy (the ICQAs the stowers, the packers and shippers), but the "pickers" - the ones who find the purchased products and route them to shipping - were constantly on the move and often way...

My 4th week at Amazon was a 50 hour week and I sailed through it. I finally feel like my body and energy are up to the task. My feet still hurt, but at the rate I'm going (minus 13 lbs!!) they should start feeling happy.
And starting in August included another new bonus for me. I got to attend Amazon's annual company picnic. They have it at different locales each year and this venue seemed to be perfect. It was a large park in Independence, about 24 miles from Coffeyville and had plenty of room for all the activities the company planned for...

I had a 40 hour - four 10 hour days - last week, but I'm heading into mandatory 50-hour overtime this week so I better do an update now. Last week I had Wednesday off and as I was still recuperating from my 50 hours the week before, I practically slept through all of Wednesday. I don't expect this week to be nearly as tiring as those first three though, as I already feel my body getting used to the walking. (And those feet are now toting nine less pounds!)
The couple parked next to me in our RV park invited me to join them Saturday night...

I thought a fifty hour week might kill me, but I came through it with flying colors (flying colors in that I was still walking and talking and able to drive.) I must be doing an acceptable job because I was approached by a rep from HR who asked me to be a CamperForce Coach. I'd work 5 hours doing my regular job, and then spend 5 hours searching out the new CamperForce members in the center and helping them in any way necessary. I agreed to do it as long as I had the option of opting out if I didn't find it my cup of tea. I'm not sure if...

Well, I thought I'd do an update 'cause I just might be too pooped to do one for a while.
My first week at Amazon was an easy one. We worked Mon/Tues and Thur/Fri and just 5 hours a day. Piece of cake.
Tomorrow begins a different story and sooner than I expected! Overtime is mandatory this year. Well, up to 50 hours. Sixty hours is voluntary (I won't be volunteering). And overtime starts this week! I kinda liked having Wednesday off and just puttin' my feet up and enjoying the air conditioning (it's 100 degrees here with 80+% humidity -...